North Star
by screaming-poetically
Summary: He tries telling himself that Elizabeth is just a woman, the same way he tries telling himself The Black Pearl is just a ship. JackElizabeth.


**Title:** North Star  
**Summary:** He tries telling himself that Elizabeth is just a woman, the same way he tries telling himself The Black Pearl is just a ship. JackElizabeth.  
**Disclaimer: **The names of all characters contained herein are the property of Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Ted Elliot. No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission.  
**A/N:** Spoilers for _Dead Man's Chest_.  
**Rating:** T

**North Star**

The sailors hold stars sacred, and for good reason – when compasses fail, when maps are lost, when a ship is blown off course, the stars can show the way. The north star, above all else, is most holy because, using the position of that star, you can find your way, even when all other stars aren't visible. Jack doesn't believe in this hocum, and rather holds to steady compasses and maps.

That is, until he met Elizabeth Swann.

She's everything he isn't– a society woman, with a moral center and Will Turner and hygiene and money. She's a bonny lass, true enough, but she's not for him. Jack tries to tell himself that, especially when he isn't able to remember when she went from Miss Swann to Elizabeth to Lizzie.

Jack Sparrow thinks he knows what he wants, or at least, he thought he knew, but he's only fooling himself when he says to Will that he wishes him luck in marriage. If he's honest with himself, Jack knows that what he truly wants is for Will to rot in Davy Jones' locker, just like his father, for being able to touch Elizabeth the way he can't. Will doesn't know this, so he nods and thanks Jack, and the Captain says nothing to Elizabeth about luck in marriage or sending Will to Davy Jones.

He tries telling himself that Elizabeth is just a woman, the same way he tries telling himself that _The Black Pearl_ is just a ship. Neither is a true statement – the _Pearl_ is freedom and Lizzie has his heart, deeper than the bounty of the sea.

He remembers rowing away from the ship in the longboat, and for a moment, feeling strangely fine. He knows that it wasn't right, leaving the ship with his crew still on it, being attacked by the Kraken, but he had to reach the chest – it wasn't right, not with Will and Gibbs and oh god, Elizabeth, still on the ship. That's why he came back – he opened up the compass and it pointed dead ahead to _The Black Pearl_, a place where no one would want to be at that moment, and there was nothing he wanted on that ship. Nothing except Elizabeth Swann.

"Jack," she said, "you came back."

And Jack hates remembering that now, how grateful she looked then – how satisfied, too, like Elizabeth knew all along he was going to return. And he remembers, too, how she said that she has faith in him, and she thinks him a good man. No one in their right mind would say such a thing of Captain Jack Sparrow, but she did, and it means somewhat to him.

The kiss, though, the kiss is what drives him insane nearly every day.

How she pressed her lips to his, soft tongue parting his lips and exploring his mouth, hands exploring his chest – over almost as quick as it started, and then he's chained to the main mast, and she's saying "I'm not sorry" but Jack can see she is, he can see she's already dying a little inside.

"Pirate," he calls her, hoping she understands that he's trying to tell her it will be okay.

When Elizabeth pulls away, to the calls of Will and Gibbs and the remains of his crew, Jack knows she wants to say something else. Maybe it's an apology, or maybe it's a reprimand for saying _The Black Pearl_ is only a ship, or maybe it's something else. Whatever she wants to say, she doesn't – she presses a swift kiss to his cheek, whispers, "I'll tell you someday," and hoists herself down to the longboat.

Jack remembers everything he's ever learned about stars and his Lizzie, and he decides that she's his North Star – his light and guidance, the only path to find his way home. If he had a home, that is; for now, as he's facing certain death, he decides that wherever Elizabeth is, that's home. He'll find a way back, and she can tell him what she has to say. They'll work it out from there – together.

Finis.


End file.
